Transfer gossip, the growing gulf between City and United and tonight’s Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk all feature in this morning’s bumper edition of Media Watch.

Adam Bate, using advanced Opta metrics, believes City are now significantly ahead of United in all departments, particularly the quality of our build-up play.

“There are many ways in which the growing gulf between these sides is manifesting itself,” he writes. “And yet, it is perhaps the regular sight of City stroking the ball around with such confidence before cutting through their opponents that so grates with United supporters who long to see such obvious attacking purpose from their own team.

“The bald statistics reveal much of the problem. The fact that City have scored 33 goals this season to United's 19 is a good place to start. In terms of shots from inside the penalty box, it is 156 plays 93. When it comes to what Opta defines as big chances, it is 41 versus 29. In each case, City rank top while United find themselves outside of the top three.

“But there is something more fundamental here. It is about style as well as substance. It is not just that City score more goals or even that they have more shots from dangerous positions. What makes Guardiola's team so attractive to watch - and something that is an ongoing issue for Mourinho - is the way in which his team fashion these openings.

“The explanation come by delving into Opta's advanced metrics for the added detail. It is now possible not just to count the number of passes that a team makes but to group those passes into sequences. For instance, City have had 261 sequences this season that included ten or more passes compared to the 129 that United have had - less than half as many.”

Interviews

Guardiola: David Silva is a ‘master’

In an interview with ESPN’s Gabriele Marcotti, he says City have so much quality it's difficult to stop them.

“When they have the ball, they keep it exceptionally well," he said. "And they have so much quality. If you press them high, they have the quality at the back -- including the goalkeeper -- to simply pass the ball through your press. Or they can also go long, and in players like [Leroy] Sane and [Raheem] Sterling, they have very fast players. So you have to find another way to defend.

Death threats and wind-ups: The City skipper who loved to tease the Reds